Business, Financial & Legal Posts - Page 4

Audiophiles have been behind THX since the 70s, with the iconic launch of Star Wars being the debut of THX's audio technology in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi back in 1983, the year THX was founded by George Lucas.

Razer has announced it has acquired THX, with company co-founder and CEO Min-Liang Tan saying: "Razer has a vision for innovation at every level of entertainment, a vision which THX has championed since its inception more than 30 years ago. This acquisition will allow us to reinforce Razer's leadership in gaming and extend the brand into broader areas of entertainment, while at the same time empowering THX to develop into a global powerhouse, independently".

It might not make sense why a gaming peripheral company would buy a cinematic audio company, but THX has been slowly expanding its certification to live entertainment and concert experiences, but THX also certifies audio electronics, non-Internet-connected speakers, TVs, projectors, automotive audio systems and foresees further adoption in immersive audio and HDR as used by headsets, AR and VR systems, reports Hexus.

THX Ltd CEO Ty Ahmad-Taylor said that the company will continue with its certification business, growing its THX Live! and THX Inside operations, while the Razer acquisition will provide THX with "a rock-solid foundation for executing on the three core areas of business". He added that both of the companies have a "shared vision for creating great products that solve customer problems".

Five years ago, we lost two people who had an enormous impact on the IT industry. On October 5th, 2011 Steve Jobs, the man whose vision and determination are responsible for a revolution in the industry of personal computers, music, tablets, mobile phones, animated movies, had died.

Just a week later, on this day in 2011, the world lost a true legend, a man to who we owe everything we know about modern computing, a man who isn't as nearly as praised as he should be - Dennis Ritchie.

Ritchie was an American computer scientist who received the Turing Award in 1983 for his accomplishments. And there are quite a few things we owe to this great man.

While Samsung is trying to forget the Note7 ever happened after the second global recall and the end of production of the device, Apple has reasons to celebrate. Not only did they lose their main competitor to their new iPhone 7, but their stock jumped by 2.3 percent, reaching highest point since last year's December. Part of this can be attributed to the fact that many analysts expect that Apple will gain some sales of their controversial new iPhone even though it was panned by many critics for not having a headphone jack.

On the other hand, Apple is doing pretty well. Although its shares hit a very low point in May, when rumors about "weak and boring" new iPhone started to float around, Apple's new iPhone is in high demand, and the rise of their stock value confirms it.

While it was predicted that the first recall of the Note7 devices could cost Samsung up to a billion dollars, the predictions for the second withdrawal of this device from the market are much worse. Analysts say the amount could climb to as much as $17 billion dollars, according to Reuters.

In early September, Samsung announced a global recall of 2.5 million Note7 devices due to faulty batteries that cause the phone to ignite, and on Tuesday the crisis took even worse proportions.

Cable and internet giant Comcast has agreed to pay $2.3 million to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to settle an investigation that accused it of mischarging customers for services and equipment they never requested.

The FCC began the investigation nearly two years ago after noticing a potentially consistent pattern of mischarges.

In addition to the fine, Comcast is required to implement a five-year compliance plan that will ensure it follows the law to the letter by training employees better, offering customers the ability to block changes to their account without consent, designing a program that deals with disputes efficiently, and more.

Tech companies earn lots of money, that's no news. The value of these companies exceeds even the largest oil giants. Earlier this year, Apple announced their last quarter's profit - $18.4 billion, which is the highest amount for a public company ever.

To help us mortals understand these large amounts, Penny Stocks Lab made a great visualization showing how much companies like Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Facebook and many others, earn per second.

Together all the listed companies earn around $2360 a second, or around $141.600 per minute. The largest piece of the cake, about 50%, goes to Apple.

A memo sent to Verizon employees in Pensnsylvania, USA late last month makes a new directive clear: barring extenuating circumstances, you must replace a customer's broken copper phone line with its VoiceLink wireless home phone service. Failure to do so "may result in disciplinary action up to and including dismissal", it reads.

The downsides of VoiceLink are that customers aren't able to add DSL internet afterward or use certain devices such as security alarms, pacemakers, and fax machines, among others (in the latter case, the company says this falls under extenuating circumstances, however).

Verizon claims it's pushing VoiceLink because it allows them to restore service quicker to customers.

Many thought that the death of Steve Jobs five years ago would mark the end of Apple as we knew it. The man who has defined Apple has left an indelible mark on the company and the technology world.

Today Apple has great financial results, their products are still in high demand, but there is also a sense that something is missing...

They were revolutionaries

Under Jobs' leadership, Apple was a revolutionary company that changed the world. Macintosh was the first commercially successful computer with a graphical user interface and mouse, and Apple II was also a great success.

It has been five years since the world lost one of the most recognizable faces in the world of technology - Steve Jobs. Known as the founder of Apple, Jobs was one of the most influential people in the world of computer and mobile technology. The iPhone isn't just one of the most popular mobile phones, it's also one of the most popular devices of all time.

Together with Steve Wozniak, Jobs made the first home computer - Apple, the same name the duo called its company that became one of the most recognizable brands worldwide. Jobs' charisma and persistence had a lot to do with it.

Jobs began his career as a teenager. He worked at HP and designed video games for Atari. Then he met Wozniak, with whom he made the Apple I. A year later the duo made the Apple II computer that started the revolution in the personal computer industry.

Spotify could swell in size significantly if the reports of the company looking to acquire SoundCloud, with rumors that Spotify is in "advanced talks" to buy the company.

If the acquisition of SoundCloud goes ahead, Spotify would need to throw a pretty hefty amount across the table, but the deal makes sense from a business perspective. Spotify has been expanding constantly, from just albums to wider ranges of catalogs of DJ sets, demos, and other rough tracks, reports Engadget.

Spotify acquiring SoundCloud would give it a considerable edge against competitors Google, Tidal, and Apple Music that are always trying to get you into their services with artist exclusives (which sucks, by the way). Spotify's new acquisition of SoundCloud would allow for a future where you would listen to in-development songs, and then scope out the artist's commercially available music right away.